These are categories more than theories; within
each definition a number of theories are possible. However, as categories,
they do present a comprehensive overview of current ways of viewing
the ET/UFO phenomenon, i.e., an inventory of the operative paradigms.
Each category contains particular authors and researchers who fit
with
it (not
a complete
list,
but just some
suggestions). Some authors might fit into more than one category: for
instance, Sitchin dominates
category
3,
but he could also go in 4, because of his reliance on Biblical material
(especially the life and activities of the patriarch Abraham), as well
as in category 7, because some elements of his work are close to, if
not identical with, von Daniken. There are close parallels, and some
important overlaps, between categories 8 and 9.

I exclude Star Trek/Star Wars spinoffs and sci-fi-related material
in books and film, which is massive. Also, I do not delve into reports
of diverse and warring aliens, friends and foes. There are simply too
many
variations to cover. But in general outlines, these complex, multi-species
scenarios
will fall into one or more of the categories listed. All theories exemplify intervention
theory, defined in the Lexicon.

This inventory is nowhere
near complete, but perhaps it will provide a helpful provisional framework
for discussion. Readers are welcome to send comments
and suggestions to John
Lash.

1, The Extraterrestrial Hypothesis.
Aliens who belong to a technologically
advanced civilization from somewhere
in outer space made contact with the US government
(and others, perhaps) in 1947, or earlier. The aliens
cut a deal, offering to trade their advanced technology for the right
to experiment with the population (Corso, The Day After Roswell).
Source of innumerable conspiracy theories and nightmare tales of CIA
mind
control, cattle mutilations,
undergound labs, etc.
Proponents:
Timothy Good, David Icke, George C. Andrews (who carefully distinguishes
between extraterrestrial friends and foes), and many others. This theory
assumes that the aliens have an advanced interbreeding
program (David Jacobs, The Threat), and that their aims are
not at all benign but downright sinister.

2,The Benevolent ("Space Brothers")
Hypothesis.
Assumes various kinds of intervention, motivated by kind and
helpful intent on
the part of the aliens; or possibly as part of their program
for boosting or initiating humanity to a more advanced level
of conscousness. Most
well-known
example, Whitley Streiber´s
"visitors," and the Billy Meier Pleiadian scenario.
After much research and reticence, the late John Mack (Passport
to the Cosmos) also adopted this view. Includes the earliest
contactees such as George Adamski, whose tall blond Venusians
came to
warn humanity
about
immanent self-destruction, pollution of the environment, etc.
Earliest
modern prototype for this theory, the "Lords of the
Flame" (also from Venus)
in the theosophical scenario of Madame Blavatsky.

3, The Sumerian File. Includes all theories centrally
based on the Annunaki scenario found in Sumerian
clay
tablets,
the
oldest written
documents
on earth. Main proponent, Zecharia Sitchin, who maintains that
the Annunaki descended to earth, founded civilization, and instituted
theocracy. He also claims that these aliens come from Nibiru,
the outermost
member
of our Solar System, with an orbital period of 3600 years, but this claim
has not (to my knowledge) been astronomically verified. Spinoffs: Lawrence
Gardner, Anton Parks, and many others. (This category is unique
in its reliance on ancient textual evidence. Compare to category 9.)
The Annunaki are space masters rather than space brothers. The Sumerian
myth says they created humanity by genetic boosting of an apelike native
population, so that humans could serve as their slaves.

4, Biblical UFOlogy. Includes hybrid and crossover
theories that develop category 2 specifically in the
context of the
Old and New Testaments. Draws heavily on Apocryphal writings,
especially the Book of Enoch with its famous account
of "the Watchers," believed to be fallen angles. Uses a straightforward
and literal-minded equation between aliens and angels. Proposes
that angels described in the Bible — such
as those seen in the visions of Ezekiel, or the one who wrestled with
Jacob at the Jabbok ford on the Jordan River,
or the Angel Gabriel who announced the birth of Jesus to Mary — were
ET entities who areassumed
to have a benevolent attitude toward humanity, consistent with the
fulfillment of "God's plan."

Some of the angels may be
fallen, but the leading assumption here is that the angel/ETs are on
the side of the
Father God, and the Father God is working for humanity (not against it,
as the
Gnostic theory, category 9,
asserts). Epitomized in the Raelian cult with emphasis on the genetic
creation of humanity by god-like ETs.

This category reflects
the deep religiosity of ET/UFO speculation, as well as its naivete
and attraction to the divine parental image. In some rare instances,
Biblical UFOlogists approach the views of category 9 and challenge the
identity and motives of the Creator God: e.g.,
Christian
O'Brien, The Genius of the Few, and A. D. Horne, Humanity´s
Extraterrestrial Origins. These are both intelligent, sobering books.

5, The Mind Control Hypothesis. Largely
developed by Jacques Vallee in a brilliant manner. He called the ET/UFO
phenomenon "a spiritual control system." Equally so, John Keel
(UFOs:
Operation Trojan Horse) has
explored this angle with sober and startling insight. Includes the influential
writings of C. G. Jung. Also, Demonic Reality by Patrick Harpur.
ETs are projections
of imagination, or the collective unconscious, intrapsychic phantoms,
psychic shapeshifters, etc. The most intellectually sophisticated
category (apart from 9, which incorporates it), it assumes that
the
Phenomenon (as Keel calls it) is totally
real, but not in the sense that it appears to be. It operates
as a “inboard"
control system, rather than a miraculous event or supernatural
intervention.

6, New Age or Visionary theories. Found
in numerous versions which tend to proliferate wildly. Materials
employed to develop
this
thesis are largely drawn from channelled writings. Examples are The
Prism of Lyra and The Only Planet of Choice. New Age theories
of alien contact tend to present a mixed bag of grand, starry-eyed plans
and divine intentions involving a diverse cast
of non-human species, some benevolent and some otherwise.

7, Ancient Astronauts, the Von Daniken Hypothesis,
which has spawned a wide range of spinoffs. Take away all the smoke and
ladders and this is simply a "cargo cult" interpretation of
alien contact. Although von Daniken steered clear of these explosive
issues
(Swiss neutrality?),
the mystique of ancient astronauts attaches itself readily to the worst
fringe element in modern thinking: i.e., crypto-fascism. We hear tales
of Hitler escaping to South America in a saucer donated by his alien
allies. Catastrophic theories of the Ice Ages and hollow-earth fantasias
proliferate in this category. For
a good critique, see Jocelyn Godwin, Arktos. Bear in mind that
von Daniken´s artifactual and archeological evidence has been largely
dismissed as fraudulent and fantastical. (We tend to assume that an advanced
race would have advanced technology - but would it be that kind
of technology, i.e., headphones and such gadgets?)

8. Shamanic – Indigenous – Otherworld.
The most traditional of all nine categories because it draws
upon world-wide folk-lore and mythology, for instance, the Aboriginal
lore of Australia
and the testimony of Zulu shaman, Credo Mutwa (who claims that
the alien spirits are malevolent). Classic work: The
Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries by E. A. Evans-Wentz,
which inspired Jacques Vallee, plus Vallee´s own, Passage
to Magonia.
Includes the intentional production of living phantoms (tulpas)
demonstrated in Tibetan Buddhism (Alexandria David-Neel, Magic
and Mystery in Tibet), Kachinas in the magical
rites of the American southwest (Frank Waters, The Book of
the Hopi),
and many reports from shamanic cultures, including ayahuascueros of the
Amazon and urban DMT trippers. Carried to a level of high sophistication
by the "Gnostic astronaut,," Terence McKenna in his
speculations on the UFO-mushroom connection (The Archaic
Revival).

9. ET/Archon theory, or the Gnostic
theory of alien intrusion. Specific to
JLL and the Gnostic material on Metahistory.org. To my knowledge, only
Nigel Kerner (The Song of the Greys) is the only other author
who equates modern Grey ETs with the Archons of Gnostic writings, but
he does not
develop
this idea in depth, textually. Through Metahistory.org I do just that.
The ET/Archon Navigator takes you to the
relevant articles.

This theory relies on the most solid and complete textual evidence
from antiquity: the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Codices. It
assumes that Gnostic teachers in the Pagan Mystery Schools were accomplished
shamans who used paranormal powers such as remote viewing to detect
aliens, as well techniques of psychic self-defence,
to resist and repel them. About one-fifth of the surviving Gnostic materials
are concerned
with
the ET/Archons, their motives, methods, appearances, tactics, etc.
Their most accomplished power is said to be HAL, "simulation, substitution,"
i.e., virtual reality. They are imposters allied with the false Creator
God (the Demiurge), Jehovah, who is working against humanity.

Kerner
assumes that Archons have deeply penetrated our genetic makeup, but
Gnostic writings support the view that they have only duped us into
believing
this is so, whereas they are in reality incapable of reaching
or breaching the genomic intelligence we embody. Their victory lies
in make-believe, getting us to act out what they pretend to
be doing to us. Their work through insinuation.

Gnostic cosmology is closely related to the modern Gaia theory of Lovelock
and Margulis, for which it presents an ancient prototype. Gnostic writings
explain the
cosmic
origin of the predatory ETs (both the fetal or embryonic and reptilian
types), which no other theory can do. Our planet Gaia plays a key role
in their presence
in
our minds and lives. The Archons are
a spinoff of the intelligence
of the divine being, Sophia, who is embodied in our planet, but
they are not compatible with human intelligence, so they inhabit the
solar
system at large, apart from the earth -
this is the Mystery teaching. (Gnostics taught that the earth
does not properly belong to the planetary system, but is captured in
it.) Archons
introduce a deviant skew into human evolution. Our responsibility is
to detect and correct
it. In
this
way
we align
ourselves
with Gaia,
the planetary intelligence that initially produced the Archon species.

The Gnostic codices found in Egypt in 1945 warn explicitly that
these predatory alien entities infiltrate our minds through spiritual
belief
systems. These
systems, especially the Judeo-Christian-Islamic program of salvation,
are not entirely of human origin, but arise in our minds due
to non-human deviance. Salvationism is an ideological virus of
extraterrestrial origin. Jehovah is a demented pseudo-diety who
pretends to be our creator.
Gnostics detected the presence of ETs in the same forms reported
today. The Nag Hammadi texts contain firsthand accounts of alien
abduction. But at a more profound level, the ancient seers who
guarded the Mysteries
also discerned
the
operations
of
the inhumane
Archontic
mind
in the religious
ideologies that are today tearing humanity apart at the seams.